


Off The Ledge

by OhanaHoku



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: 1x18, Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Brothers, Custody Battle, Divorce Fallout, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s01e18 Loa Aloha (The Long Goodbye), Gen, Gen Fic, Heavy Angst, Hurt Danny, Hurt Older Brother, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of Suicide, No Slash, Past Fic, Post-Divorce, Protective Matt, Suicidal Thoughts, Triggers, protective little brother, suicidal danny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-06-20
Packaged: 2019-05-25 21:02:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14985536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhanaHoku/pseuds/OhanaHoku
Summary: "For six months he talked me off the ledge. Alright, I'm telling you I would not have gotten through that if it wasn't for him."





	Off The Ledge

**Author's Note:**

> His little brother was always there for him with a six-pack of beer and all the time in the world.
> 
> Probably should've been working on my other stories, but I was rewatching Loa Aloha and I just had to write this. Also, sorry I haven't updated my other stories, been having some problems with my laptop and I just got it back today. I'll be updating them soon! Anyhow, without further ado, here's my new story! TW: Suicidal Thoughts, Mentions of Suicide.

    Five minutes home from work and already Danny was tempted. Tempted to jump and end it all because what was there left to live for? He lost his wife. His daughter wasn’t even being allowed to visit him because Rachel wouldn’t allow it. The most he got was a ten minute phone call from Grace to tell him about her day at school and say goodnight.

 

    Sometimes it was less than three minutes.  Three stupid minutes that Danny got to hear his daughter’s voice. The only time he saw her face was when he looked at his photos of her on his phone.

 

    This had been going on about a month now and Danny was sick and tired of it. The custody fight was draining and the living conditions of his new apartment were deplorable. He was living in a rat’s nest, surrounded by seedy people who Danny wished he could just arrest and send to jail. But he didn’t have a warrant and he didn’t want to go asking for trouble for fear he’d be kicked out.

 

    This was the closest he could get to his daughter and wasn’t that a discouraging thought?

 

    Danny had just gotten undressed, trading his uniform in for a t-shirt and boxers, flopping himself down on the stained couch with a weak springs that made him sink uncomfortably. He ignored the way it squeaked and reached for the remote, pressing the power button several times before it finally worked. He sighed, tossing the cheap device on the coffee table. He leaned back to watch the news.

 

    “Honey, I’m ho-ome!” A voice lilted from the doorway as someone walked in.

 

    Danny felt simultaneously annoyed and grateful as his brother showed up. For the past month Matt had been the only thing keeping him going, talking him down when he got hysterical and making sure that Danny would get to work on time when he lost all motivation. “Hey, Lucy.” He said with a feeble grin as Matt set a six-pack of beer on the table. “Hope you bought the good stuff.”   
  
     Matt hummed. “Don’t I always? Okay, aside from the one time I tried the clamato stuff. I learned my lesson.” He earned a small chuckle from Danny, but no response. He glanced at his older brother, seeing the worry lines that were etched into his forehead, making him look older than his thirty-three years. The dark bags under his eyes evidence of what he already knew, Danny had hardly gotten a full night’s sleep in the span of a month. The only way Danny could knock out for more than four hours was if he drank enough beer.

 

    It wasn’t good, not by a long shot. But it kept Danny alive and that was all Matt could ask for at this point.

 

    “Bad night?” He asked gently, passing Danny a bottle.

 

    Danny took the bottle, eyebrows lifting up in an aborted movement as a witty remark died on his tongue. He slumped back down, taking a swig of his beer and examining the bottle for a span of three seconds before he answered. “Aren’t they all bad?”

 

    Matt’s eyes softened and he sat down on the couch with Danny, setting a hand on his brother’s leg. “They’ll get better, Danny. I know they will.”

 

    The cop huffed a laugh. “Yeah, sure. Just how do you know this, huh?” He asked, looking at his brother demandingly for an answer.

 

    “Because you’re a great father and I know that you will fight this thing so you can be there for Grace. You’ll find a way, Danny. You always do.” Matt answered, completely confident that Danny would win visitation rights, if not joint custody of Grace.

 

    Danny laughed, startling Matt with the watery edge to it. A very bad day then. “Yeah, well. Obviously I’m not good enough or I wouldn’t be in this situation to begin with.”

 

    “Hey, Danny. This wasn’t on you, it wasn’t. This is all on Rachel. It’s not your fault she left, it’s hers. She couldn’t deal so she took the easy way out.” Matt said firmly, not liking the way Danny turned his head away from him. His older brother mumbled something under his breath and Matt rose an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, what was that?”

 

    Danny sighed heavily and looked down at his hands. “I, uh. I said that maybe… Maybe I should take the easy way out, you know?”

 

    Matt’s face paled a shade. Danny had made mention of it so many times, but the regularity never quite softened the blow. He pursed his lips for a moment before blowing out a soft breath. “Well, we both know that’s not going to happen and you know why, but I’ll tell you again.”

 

    Danny huffed and shook his head, turning away from him again. “Hey, hey. Look at me, big brother. Look at me.” Matt ordered, squeezing his leg until he complied. “Reason one. I won’t let you. Two, we’d be crushed if you did this, me, Mom, Dad, all of us. We’re your family, Danny. Just because one family abandoned you doesn’t mean we’re going to. You know we’d all fall apart if you left us.”

 

    Danny swallowed, eyes wet with tears as Matt went on. “Three, there’s a little girl who lives just a block down the street and she’d be devastated if she lost her Danno.” Danny sniffed, rubbing the underside of his nose as his tears spilled over silently. “She loves you, Danny. No matter what her mother’s done. You can’t leave her behind.”

 

    Danny nodded, a light sob muffled behind his hand. His heart was broken in so many ways, but deep down he knew that there was no way in hell he’d abandon his daughter.

 

    Matt echoed his nod slowly. “Okay. You will be okay, Danny.” He pulled his brother into an awkward side hug and let him compose himself before pulling away. “I’ll order us some pizza and we can watch Back to the Future, I know you love the DeLorean.”

 

    Danny laughed again, weak and strangled, but no longer teary. “Yeah, okay.”

 

    Matt grinned in his victory and got up to find his phone while Danny got the movie up on the TV.

 

***********************

 

    Five hours later and halfway into the third movie of the series, Danny was haphazardly stretched out on the couch, finally having fallen asleep after consuming half a pizza and three beers.

 

    Matt shook his head and got up to throw the box out and put the beer bottles on the counter. He turned the volume down on the tv, Danny liked having the background noise, stretched and chuckled softly at the way his brother was nearly slipping off the couch. Carefully he moved Danny back on to the couch properly, settling a thin blanket over him.

 

    Steel blue eyes opened to half mast and Matt just smiled at them. The detective’s lips moved, slightly sluggish with sleep and alcohol, his words somewhat slurred. “Thanks, Matty.”

 

    The younger of the two grinned softly. “No problem, big brother. Get some sleep, okay?”

 

    Tired eyes blinked before closing as he nodded and settled heavily against the couch. Matt stood up and yawned quietly while moving to sit down in an armchair that they had covered with a blanket to combat the itchy material.

 

    As the young man fell asleep, tired eyes crinkled and lips twitched upward at the corners as Danny gazed gratefully at his little brother before he too was firmly pulled under by exhaustion.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed that! Disclaimer, I know nothing of beer or custody battles so I apologize if anything I wrote on those points was a little off. I'll probably be writing more to this so keep an eye out and let me know what you think!


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